A Photographic Journey Through Southern Yemen
In November 2019, I was fortunate to travel through southern Yemen as a coordinator for Inertia Network’s first program in the region with Kais al Qalisi. Our group was limited to just four people and we travelled by car from the Omani border across Al Mahrah into the Hadhramaut. Throughout the course of the five-days we spent in southern Yemen, we discussed local culture, history, the war, politics, and religion as we explored diminutive coastal villages, immensely beautiful mud-brick towns, fertile wadis and bustling cities with Kais.
We must have passed by 25 police and military checkpoints throughout the trip, as our visas and permission letters were checked at each spot. While the area is certainly not safe for independent travel, with an expert local team leader and driver, as well as contacts in each town, I felt safe and engaged throughout the entire trip. It was one of the most exciting, intellectually and emotionally stimulating adventures I’ve ever lead.
This photoseries is not meant to serve as some sort of political statement; rather, it’s meant to be a personal reflection of my journey through this unique, volatile, immensely beautiful corner of Arabia. This is my way of sharing my experiences with others— through photographic glimpses into daily life, landscapes and architecture accompanied by my own written explanations.
The photo above features the village of Haid Al-Jazil in Hadhramaut’s Wadi Doan, near Yemen’s geographic centre. The village sits perched on a massive rock on the bottom of the valley. This region is incredibly unique, as looking from above you can truly appreciate the geology of the area— a vast desolate desert plateau with thinly cut canyons carved hundreds of metres into the earth by ancient rivers. Small villages made from mud-bricks speckle the sides of these valley floor, as water and fertile grazing land lie at the middle of the valley where a river once flowed.
The photos above depict scenes of daily life from the inside the town of Shibam in Hadhramaur, central Yemen. While originally founded as a settlement some 1,700 years ago, the “modern” town of Shibam dates back to the 16th century. 7,000 people still make this ancient town of mud-brick skyscrapers their home, and the buildings can rise as high as 11 stories.
Narrow streets, intricate doorways, mud high-rise buildings, and lots of men go about their daily routines in the towns of the Hadhramaut in central Yemen. As I travelled around this spectacular region I was able to meet lots of people who took an immediate interest in me— being a foreigner wandering around a region that has not seen tourists for quite some time. There were looks of confusion and curiosity, as well as warm greetings when I addressed them in Arabic.
Being able to explore these remarkable towns, standing on centuries of history, culture and heritage was a real honour, and while I recognize the security situation remains fragile in the country, it is still possible to visit with careful planning with an experienced local team. It helps remind people in Yemen that they are not forgotten by outsiders and that foreigners with friendly intentions still exist and are ready to appreciate their culture and country.
Tourism also provides one of the best sources of direct cash injection into the local economy, sending money and resources directly to people.
Yemen has a long coast line, and the coastal regions of the south are incredibly diverse. Mahris, a South Arabian people who speak their own language, populate many of Yemen’s southeastern villages near the Omani border. There are also lots of people of East African and Somali decent living in the seaside towns of the south.
In the photos above, on the left you can see young men harvesting bait fish from a net dragged to the beach outside Hawf, and on the right you can see two men selling clothing at the souq in the town of Al Ghaidah in the evening. Al Ghaidah is the largest town in Yemen’s Al Mahrah region and is only a couple hour’s drive from the Omani border.
The towns of Hadhramaut are full of life— but one noticeable element is that men are much more publicly visible than women. Old men sit around drinking tea and chatting, run stores and market stalls and do much of the visible labour in the region.
Women, however, are more of a rarity. They are present walking down streets and going into shops, but in most other areas of life, they don’t take much of a public role in the rural regions— one exception being the farming women of the valley who wear the conical witch-like hats (or sometimes baseball caps instead).
The mosque on the right in the town of Tarim was also an exception, as it had a male and female entrance and during prayer time I was able to see both men and women enter for prayers. This immaculate white mosque with a massive mud-brick minaret looked spectacular from the outside, but was not open to non-Muslims.